Holiday in Cape Verde with kids: ill kids.. again!

Hmmmm despite the peace, the sun and relaxation we are having on our holiday in Cape Verde Lotte does not seem to be getting any better. Her fever is still high. She’s moping, unhappy and hardly has any appetite left.

Ill Kids on holiday

Kev and I take turns in hotel room shifts so Lotte can stay out of the sun and get enough sleep while Flo can still enjoy the warmth, the pool and the playground. I can’t help but wonder why our kids are so often ill on holiday.

Exploring Sal in a 4×4

On Friday Lotte finally begins to pick up and Saturday her fever is over, great!! We’d love to see a bit of the island so we decide we want to rent a 4×4 to keep our own pace. Kev and I love taking matters in our own hands when it comes to exploring a country and driving through Sal in a 4×4 seems just our thing. Unfortunately Lotte seemed to have been carrying a fairly contagious virus and it has jumped over to Floris who in his turn is running a high fever now, oh no! Luckily his fever dropped a bit by Sunday morning so we decide to head out any way.

What to see on Sal?

Well, more than I expected. When you google pictures you see a big dry plain. The sand is red/brown and there seems to be hardly any vegetation. It turns out Sal has a few fun to do highlights you can all visit it one day. But… I’ll save that for a different blog 😉 Sal only has two main roads. The majority of the day we travel the red sands, no roads. Just cruising the plains randomly. We’d run into the occasional town or arrow sign at times and at times we don’t. But we’re not worried, Sal isn’t that big. Kev is feeling like a Dakar rally driver and is loving every minute! We end the day with an ice-cream in Santa Maria and so the end of our holiday in Cape Verde draws near.

Our holiday in Cape Verde is almost over

In the evening Flo’s fever is back at full blast and even on Monday, our last day, he’s having ups and downs. Luckily we are able to relax at the pool and enjoy the last rays of sun as we hear it’s storming back home. At the end of the afternoon I start packing. In the evening Floris shows off his excellent dancing moves at the mini-disco and then it’s time to go to bed as our alarms will go off at 7:30 in the morning the next day. And would you believe it? I wake up in the middle of the night feeling awful; head-ache, sore muscles, runny nose and a fever. It must be Flo and Lotte’s virus.

Off we go, back home

I board the plane later that day with a high fever myself this time and our holiday in Cape Verde is over. Luckily Floris seems to be feeling a bit better. Flying while being ill turns out to be no fun at all. Because my head is full of mucus I’m not able to clear my ears which makes the landing a lot less comfortable. During the flight Flo is heating up again, it turns out the poor guy has not fully recovered yet.

I’m especially glad we used Holiday Valet Parking after we’ve landed. We literally just need to walk one minute and we get into our car, terrific! When we get back home we quickly eat a sandwich and at 23:00 o’clock everyone is sound asleep.

Thoughts

In theory our holiday was lovely: sun, pool, nice hotel, lots to do for the kids and good food… But in reality a holiday is a lot less relaxing when your kids are ill. I keep wondering how come our kids are ill in Feb for the third time in a row last years. Is it the change in climate? That doesn’t make sense as Lotte was ill in Winterberg too. The air in the plane?

No, because we went to Winterberg by car and the kids weren’t ill in the USA after we got off the plane. For now I reckon it must be the time of year. Everyone in Holland seems to have a cough or a cold. I think we must have picked it up back home and it must have come out in Cape Verde. But hey, if you have to be ill, better be ill in the sun under the waving palm trees right? ;).

In conclusion our holiday in Cape Verde was lovely, just not as relaxing as we were expecting it to be. Oh well, on to the next trip! In May we have Bali planned, all tips are more than welcome!